Where this information came from

How we selected this information Back to top

Hospitals and the cancer treatment and services they provide are closely watched to ensure they are aiming for the highest quality. There is a wide range of information available about hospitals and the services they provide. But not all of this information is in a format that people can use to help them make decisions about their treatment. The ‘Choosing your treatment and care' pilot aims to take this information and present it in a meaningful way.

Working with our partners, we have looked through the sources available to find information that could help people make decisions about treatment. There is more information than what we have made available here, but we have made some decisions about what might be most useful. We have provided links to the original sources for further information.

For now we are only able to give information about services for colon and rectal cancer in England. We hope to be able to give the same information about services across the UK in the near future.

As this is just a trial at the moment, your feedback is essential to help us understand if we have made the right decisions about what to include and how to present it.

As you look through the pilot you will see opportunities to provide feedback. A lot of this is quick Yes/No feedback. To provide us with more detailed comments and feedback please click on the feedback form at the bottom of the page.

As the pilot develops, we may add to or change some of the information available.

Who we are working with Back to top

|The National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN|) is an organisation that analyses and publishes information collected about cancer services across the UK. Their reports are usually written for researchers and healthcare professionals, but this information can also be helpful to people affected by cancer.

NCIN have been working with us to identify the most useful information that could help people make decisions about their cancer treatment. They have advised us on what information is available, and helped us to think about how to present this information in a way that people can understand. They have also provided information on the approximate number of new cases of colon and rectal cancer per hospital trust.

Our main information sources Back to top

National Cancer Peer Review (NCPR)

This is a national quality assurance programme for NHS cancer services. Services are measured against a set of national quality measures that try to ensure that every person with cancer gets good quality care.

When a service is assessed as part of the NCPR programme the aim is to confirm the quality of the care it provides. If an assessment finds that the quality of care is not as good as it could be, then the service is required to resolve any issues. The results of assessments are published in a series of reports which can be found on the NCPR website|.

NCPR information is used in the section called ‘Quality measures for colon and rectal cancer services’ and in the item about surgeons in the ’Treatment statistics’ section. Any information we use from NCPR is based on reports from the assessment in 2010-2011. ‘High performing’ trusts are defined by NCPR as those that met more than 80% (80 out of 100) of quality measures in the last assessment. Trusts that are rated as ‘performing poorly’ met less than half of these quality measures.

National Cancer Patient Experience Survey

This a national survey produced by the Department of Health, to explore people’s experiences of their cancer services. The most recent survey was carried out in 2010 and involved more than 67,000 people with all types of cancer.

People were asked a range of questions about their experiences, from the tests they had to get a diagnosis, to the information they were given once they finished their treatment. Results were published on national and local levels, and could be broken down by the type of cancer. Hospital trusts that scored in the top or bottom 20% (20 out of 100) across England were identified for each question. We also used this measure to identify those performing well.

We have focused on a selection of questions from the national survey and have only used results for people with colon and rectal cancers. Survey information is used in the sections ‘Patient experience’ and ’Written information’.

The Department of Health has more information 2010 National Cancer Patient Experience Survey|. 

NHS Choices

|NHS Choices is the NHS’s online health information service for the public. It provides information about health, health conditions, and health services across the UK.

We have taken some of the information for the ‘Choosing your treatment and care’ pilot from NHS Choices. Specifically, their information has told us about the rate of unplanned readmissions to hospital after surgery. These data are for a 9 month period and are provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre together with an assessment of whether the rate of unplanned readmissions is better or worse than expected.  NHS Choices also provided information on people’s ratings of hospital cleanliness.

Any information that we use from NHS Choices will be the most up to date available. NHS Choices information is used in the sections ‘Treatment statistics’ and ‘Hospital information’.

You can see more about the information NHS Choices provides about services|. 

Using this information

We hope that this section gives you the right information to help you make choices about your treatment. We can’t advise you about the best treatment for you, or about where to go for treatment. This decision should be made between you and your healthcare team. Only you and they will be aware of your full medical history and of the details of your treatment.

We make every effort to ensure that the information we provide is accurate but we rely on third party sources to remain up-to-date. Macmillan cannot accept liability for loss or damage resulting from any inaccuracy in this information or third party information, such as the information on websites we're linking to.